FLOWERY BRANCH — Flowery Branch has never lost a first round playoff series under head coach Joey Ray.
The Falcons kept that streak alive on Wednesday, pummeling Arabia Mountain 14-4 and 9-2 in a two-game sweep at the Hog Mountain Sports Complex in the Class 4A playoffs.
Junior Aaron Attaway and senior Jake Beaver allowed just six combined runs in taking the wins.
The Branch offense took advantage of a Rams pitching staff that walked 18 and hit six batters while stealing 15 bases, including 10 in the first game alone. They were an efficient 8-of-18 (.444 BA) with RISP with 13 RBI at the plate in the series.
“Both guys did a great job, especially Jake, who missed a couple of weeks with an injury,” Ray said. “We did not play perfect but we tried to play aggressive and you have to do that this time of year and take advantage of what the other teams give you.”
The Falcons (20-10) next will take on LaGrange, which swept Spalding on Wednesday, in a three-game series beginning on Tuesday in the Sweet 16.
“We’ve had some ups-and-downs this year but we’ve also played really well at times. We’re just going to have to do the little things well,” Ray said. “It should be a good series.”
GAME 1: Branch 14, Arabia Mountain 4, 5 inn
Aaron Attaway got the win going five innings allowing three earned runs on six hits while fanning seven.
Devin Tallington took the loss for the Rams going four innings giving up 11 runs, 10 earned, on six hits. But he walked seven and hit three batters
Austin Bourrie had two hits and two RBI while Nick Linkowski had a hit and two RBI to lead the Branch offense. Kyle Adamec, Jake Beaver, and Kade Smallwood each had a hit and an RBI for the Falcons.
The Falcons also had what is thought to be a school-record 10 stolen bases in the game.
After Attaway mowed down the Rams in the top of the first, the Falcons offense took advantage of two walks, a hit batter, and used three stolen bases to jump out to a quick 3-0 lead.
The Rams trimmed the lead to 3-1 in the second on a RBI single from Colin Cosfield.
Branch answered that with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second on a balk and a sacrifice fly from Adamec. Arabia Mountain answered that with two runs in the top of the third on a two-run double from Raymond Clark to cut the lead to 5-3.
Linkowski capped a three-run third for Branch with a two-run single to make it 8-3. Smallwood and Bourrie had RBI hits in a three-run fourth and Bourrie capped a three-run fifth with a RBI hit to end the game.
GAME 2: Branch 9, Arabia Mountain 2
Beaver got the win in the second game going five innings, allowing just two runs on two hits while striking out nine. But he walked six, four coming in the fifth in his only troublesome inning.
Beaver and Clark both breezed early. Clark set down the first four Branch batters and eight of the first 10 into the third. Beaver struck out six in the first two innings as part of retiring 7 of the first 10 Rams hitters and fanned eight through the first four innings.
The Falcons offense eventually scratched out a run in the third on a RBI bunt single by Jake Kross and added two more in the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Connor Edwards and an error for a 3-0 lead. Branch pushed the lead to 5-0 in the fifth on a two-run triple from Smallwood.
Beaver found trouble in the bottom of the fifth when he walked the bases loaded. He allowed one run on a wild pitch and another when hit a batter with the bases loaded to make it 5-2. But he got Cosfield to ground out to end the inning with no further damage.
The Falcons made sure there would be no comeback, answering with four runs in the top of the sixth with Smallwood adding a third RBI in the game with a RBI single to right for a 9-2 lead.
Ethan Mieldezis and Darren Schultz each work a perfect inning, with Mieldezis striking out the side in the sixth and Schultz closing out the series with a 1-2-3 seventh.
